Locked Away
by MysticJourney
Summary: After reclaiming their city of Erebor, the dwarves are met with a much smaller threat; a thief. Two of the king's youngest kin are left with the duty of keeping watch on this young human girl. How will her fate persevere when she's faced with the decision: love or freedom? Kili/OC.
1. Thief

**Hello, all! This is my first stab at a Hobbit-related story. I expect it to be more of a mini-series rather than a full blown story, but we'll see how it goes.**

**This takes place three years after the story of The Hobbit. It is given that all the company had survived the journey (unlike the proper ending of The Hobbit).**

**Warning: if you have not fully read The Hobbit, expect there to be minor spoilers.**

**Here goes nothing!**

* * *

I sat on the back wall of the cell, head resting on my knees. My mind had been replaying the situation for the hundredth time when I finally heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"She isn't much of a thing," I heard as the voice got louder, "But your uncle insisted that it be you two. Least 'til we figure what to do with her." I looked up from my spot to see a large, balding dwarf followed by two smaller ones. They stopped at the entrance of the stairwell.

Through the terrible, dim lighting, I tried my best to cautiously look the newcomers over. The blonde hair caught my eye at first. He had an intrigued look on his face as he glanced around the small prison room.

"I don't believe I've ever had the honor to come down here before," the blonde joked with a smug smile as he looked over to the brunette dwarf beside him. As my attention followed his own, I was met with dark brown eyes staring intensely back at me. His eyebrows were knit tightly together as if in a deep focus. I swallowed thickly as silence fell over the room.

After a few moments, the blonde one cleared his throat before speaking once again to break the tension. "What did she do?" he asked curiously.

"She's a thief! That's what she is!" the balding dwarf exclaimed as he walked closer to the cell, "A good-for-nothing thief." I slowly blinked—needn't a reminder of what I had already told myself endless times prior to their arrival—before bringing my forehead down to my knees once again.

"Well then," I heard the blonde continue on, "What are we expected of?"

"As I said: watch!" the larger dwarf bellowed. "You are to take turns keeping a watch on her through the nights."

"And what of the days?" Blondie inquired. I heard them to begin to move about the room.

"She will be brought meals twice a day. Otherwise she is to be left alone in the daylight. Let the guilt eat her alive!" I cringed at the thought.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" a voice quietly asked.

"No, not for a thief," he replied flatly. "Besides, it is simply King Thorin's orders."

I took a deep breath as I was indirectly told what my life plans would be for the near future. Though, I tried to be optimistic that I wasn't punished on the spot with a crueler fate.

"Kili, you take first watch for the evening. Pantry's in the corner if needed. Once the sun arises, you're free to do as you please," the head-dwarf ordered. Two sets of footsteps began to be sound before stopping once more.

"Good luck, brother," one of the dwarves said quietly before chuckling. He continued with what sounded like a pat on the back before the footsteps started up again and slowly began to soften as they got further up the stairs.

A deep silence saturated the room for minutes on end, to the point where I began to wonder if I misheard the dwarves and was actually left alone. However, my curiosity was answered not too long after the thought.

"What's your name, thief?" a voice I had yet to hear sounded. I hesitantly raised my head to see the brunette leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. I simply stared at him, unsure whether his question was genuine or not.

Though he was still shadowed, I could see that his attention seemed to be focused on the ground, rather than the cell. With that, I decided to remain silent and readjust my spot on the bench I was provided. I turned in my seat so my legs were rested on my chest and the side of my body was pressed against the cold, cell wall.

Once I was mildly comfortable, I could hear the brunette moving closer. From the corner of my eye, I could see him lean against the stone pillar that constructed a corner of the cell.

"Kili," he spoke confidently, causing me to look over at him again after a moment. Once our eyes met, he continued, "At your service." He looked me over with a nod. His eyes slightly narrowed as he paused. "Well, I guess not quite," he added, a childish grin splashing across his face.

"Why are you talking to me?" I quietly questioned, ignoring his previous statement. His smile slowly dropped before he shrugged.

"It seems as if though we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other. Why not make it a little more entertaining for ourselves?" he said as he walked over to his original spot to sit down. Once seated, he continued, "Plus, it's a bit difficult for me to grasp you being a criminal and such."

"Is the cell not convincing enough?" I sarcastically replied, more to myself than him. However, he looked back over at me as his smile returned to his face.

"Hey! It's not all that bad!" he said, getting back up to walk over to the edge of the cell. "Look, you get a makeshift bed, a beautifully carved bench to sit on," he paused as I looked at him in amusement.

"You get me as company," he happily continued as he ran his hand along the bars of the cell. A small smile played at my lips.

"Splendid," I said in a less caustic tone, refocusing my attention on my hands. After realizing that it probably wasn't all that bad of an idea to converse while I had the chance, I spoke up. "Eleysia," I said softly before looking back at him. His hands were lightly wrapped around two of the cell bars as he was glancing through the spaces to look at me.

"Eleysia," he repeated, the same innocent smile widened across his features, "It's a pleasure to meet you." I briefly lifted the corners of my mouth to return into a smile.

I took a deep sigh as the quiet began to settle throughout the room again. Thinking that was the end of our conversation for the time being, I rested my head on the cool wall again.

"What did you do?" he asked quietly, causing me to look at him once again. Before I spoke, he quickly added, "If you don't mind me asking."

I appreciated his politeness. Even if I was a prisoner, I still wanted to be treated with a sense of decency.

"I took a risky chance to fulfill my own selfish goals," I said after a moment. "He was right, though," I paused, "I'm a good-for-nothing thief."


	2. Watch-Bird

_"Ariella, what's wrong?"_

_"We have to leave," my dearest friend answered flatly._

_"Where are we going?" _

_She took a deep breath._

_" We… as in me and Geoffrey. We can't afford to take you along," Ariella replied as tears began to roll down her face._

_"…what?" I asked in disbelief._

_"I hope one day our paths cross again so I can explain. Until then, though," she walked over to me in a hurry and placed her hands on either side of my face, "I wish you the world." She gently pressed her lips to my forehead before beginning to walk towards the door._

_"Why are you saying this?" I said, still not sure whether this was really happening or not. "You can't leave me behind! I have nowhere else to go, Ari!" I exclaimed, a panic rising in my bones. "I can't be abandoned again!" I sobbed. Silent tension hung through the air._

_"I'm sorry, Ellie," she turned to look back at me, "I am so, _so_ sorry."_

I abruptly woke up, quietly gasping from the sudden rush of memories. I quickly glanced around the room to see if I had just been dreaming this entire nightmare from the start. To my dismay, I found myself lying in the same cold, uncomfortable cell from just a few hours before.  
I simply remained motionless, fixing my attention on the ceiling until my heart rate and breathing slowly evened out once again. It didn't take long for me to be reminded of my watch-bird.

"I didn't know if I should wake you," I heard a voice softly say from across the room. I let his comment cycle through my mind a couple times before deciding to carefully sit up.

Kili's face was softly illuminated by the dim candlelight. However, I could still see the concern etched across his features. After locking eye contact with him for a few moments, I brought my hands up to my face to wipe the remnants of tears away from my cheeks.

"Would you like to talk about it?" he asked in a genuine, but worrisome tone.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not," I mumbled. His frown deepened, but he nodded in acknowledgement. I couldn't help but feel guilty for shutting—an obviously upbeat, friendly person—down so many times. "I'm sorry," I said, barely above a whisper, "I'm just not prepared to relive those memories to a stranger at the moment."

"I understand," he replied, focusing his gaze to the ground. I allowed a minute to pass before speaking up again.

"I wouldn't oppose to conversing of something other than myself, though," I said as friendly as I could muster. He looked back over at me with a slight look of surprise. "It'd be nice to break away from my thoughts for a bit before you leave." A small smile returned to his face.

"What are you up for?" he asked, leaning over in his seat to rest his elbows on his knees. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Got any stories?" I questioned. His smile grew wide.

"Loads of 'em," he said happily.

"Alright, story-man. Give me your best one," I said, settling against the wall to get more comfortable.

"You quite sure you can handle it?" he teased. I looked at him with an un-amused face. Taking that as a sufficient answer, he continued, "Alright, alright. I'll get right to it. Well, a couple years or so ago, we went on a journey: thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard…"

He proceeded to tell me all about his adventures with the company as they fought against Trolls, Orcs, even a Dragon; all of which I had heard of through stories, but never experienced first-hand. I was utterly engulfed in the story to the point that I had completely forgotten about my own situation and found myself envisioning every step of their trip.

It wasn't until he explained their search for the stolen treasures that the Dragon held captive when I was carefully reminded of my reason being there. The guilt settled in a little more once I realized just how much the gold really meant to the dwarves and their city. I had attempted to take a piece of that away from them and I was sure that it wasn't going to be taken lightly.

However, before I could go too in depth into my thoughts once again, he raved of all their accomplishments and began to tell more stories of the people—and creatures—they encountered on the way; including the forest elves, the eight-legged nightmares, and even a shape-shifting human. It wasn't until he was adding the last touches to the journey when the break of daylight began to peak through the cell's window.

"So the hobbit really did turn out to be a burglar then?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes! Who would've guessed that our Mr. Boggins would stick with us the entire way and prove himself to be the thief that Gandalf had promised!" he said with excitement as if he was hearing the story for the first time as well.

"Doesn't make me feel as terrible to be labeled a thief now," I lightly joked, "Bilbo could basically be my hero."

"Now that's a positive way to look at it!" he said, chuckling along the way. Once the excitement of the story faded, I slowly remembered that the daylight was Kili's sign of departure. He must've realized the same as his smile began to soften.

"Thank you, Kili," I said, breaking the silence, "I hardly expected to talk, let alone be thoroughly entertained… I really appreciate it."

"The pleasure's truly been my own," he grinned happily. "Not many willingly sit through a full telling of my stories nowadays."

I smiled at him as our eye contact lingered a little longer. With the light shining through, I finally got to get a better look at the dwarf I had spent my first night in imprisonment with. Although I originally assumed that he was much younger than the other dwarves I had encountered thus far, I hardly expected to find him… _attractive._

In my previous experiences, dwarves were usually short, funny shaped men with intricately braided hair and long, course beards. Kili appeared to be nothing of the sort, however. He had long, straight—albeit a bit unruly—hair that perfectly matched his dark brown eyes. His beard was: well, nothing close of a beard, but more of shadowy stubble that spread across the lower half of his face. The most surprising was that he looked less of a dwarf and more of a shorter version of a human with his perfectly contoured facial features.

I hadn't even realized that I was analyzing his looks that much until he let out a soft laugh and sat up a little straighter, finally looking away from my face. I blinked a couple times to refocus my attention and prepare myself to apologize for staring when he beat me to it.

"Sorry, we just don't really get human visitors in these parts," he said sheepishly, "Especially not ones of your sorts."

"What, a girl thief?" I said in a teasing tone. He lightly chuckled.

"No," he paused to look at me once more, "One of beauty."

I was taken aback by his sudden compliment and couldn't help the inevitable blush that more-than-likely made way to my face. Before I could admit I was just thinking the same idea of him, we were interrupted by footsteps coming down the stairwell. He stood up to compose himself a bit more before the stranger appeared before us. I fully expected to see another burly, male dwarf, but was pleasantly surprised to see an even shorter, older woman dwarf carrying a tray of food.

"Ah! Prince Kili. I assumed you would have been long on your way by now. You were told of the daytime arrangements, were you not?" the woman asked him sweetly. My eyes widened at her use of "prince".

"Simply lost track of time, Dordina," he answered politely, heading towards the stairwell.

"Time? You're watching out for daybreak, not time!" she exclaimed. I was still staring at him in shock as he smirked, obviously knowing the reason for my surprise.

"Another story for tomorrow," he called before flashing his child-like grin once more and dashing up the stairs.

"Silly boy," the woman spoke, misunderstanding that the comment wasn't meant for her, "Needs to get his head out of the clouds that one does." She carefully pulled a key out of her pocket to unlock a smaller entrance into the cell where she could slide the tray of food into. "Here you go, dear. It isn't much, but dinner will be a better portion," she said as she closed the caged door once more. "I'll be seeing you just before nightfall!" With that, she waddled her way back up the stairs and allowed the silence to reside once more.

I glanced over at the tray I was given and was amazed at the amount of food I was served. It was bigger than most of the meals I had on a daily basis even before the entire nightmare had begun. Once taking a quick look over my "breakfast", I realized how hungry I really had been and crawled over to the tray to start scarfing down the toast, bacon, and eggs I was provided. Though it might not have been much for a dwarf, it was more than satisfying to my empty stomach.


	3. Guilt

I found myself pacing the cell several times during the day and trying to reimagine Kili's journey. It was the only hope I had to keep me sane without all the other thoughts gnawing at my conscious. However, I could only handle repeating the story to myself so many times before it began to run dull and allowed my mind to wander. It wasn't long until I was tossing the least important topic in my mind.

_' "One of beauty"? Is this some sort of trick?'_ I thought to myself, sitting down on the cell bench.  
_'Surely he couldn't really have interest in a criminal.'_ I paused to think it over a bit more before continuing. _'Although… he has such a kind face. I can't possibly see him as being one of deceit .'_

_'Ugh, what do I know of dwarves! Here I am making assumptions when_ I'm _the threat to_ them.' I stood up and began pacing the cell again. I had hardly even noticed that the sun had started to set and the room was darkening more by the minute.

_'For all I know, he could just be trying to gain my trust to see if I have anything else up my sleeve…'_ I half-mindedly thought. However, the longer it settled, the more practical that situation seemed.

"That bugger!" I said out loud. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a voice reply.

"You can calm down, miss. Only here to bring your food," the woman dwarf, Dordina, said as she entered the room.

"Didn't see you there," I said in a low voice.

Unfazed by my outburst, Dordina went about her business, removing the tray from breakfast and replacing it with an unscathed dinner tray full of food. Unlike the morning, however, the idea of eating again was repulsive.

"There you go, dearie. Be seeing ya in the mornin'," she replied as she quickly made her out of the room again.

I gave the tray a look of disgust before sitting on the makeshift bed in defeat. It didn't matter whether Kili was genuine or not. I was still their prisoner and he was simply fulfilling the duty of keeping watch over me.

Just as that thought resided in mind, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Even in spite of everything I had just concluded in the minutes prior, I still foolishly found myself wishing that it was Kili to take watch for the night again. I was mildly disappointed when I was met with Blondie-dwarf instead.

"Ah, you've survived!" he said happily in feign shock.

"To your dismay, yes," I answered quietly. He pursed his lips as a quizzical expression came across his face.

"Very well then," he spoke on, pushing the conversation from the awkward tension that was forming. "I'm Fili!" He gave me a small nod of acknowledgement as he began to pace the room. I looked up at him in confusion.

"Fili and Kili?" I questioned incredulously. "Like to stay in rhyme much?" He smiled proudly.

"When you're kin, generally speaking, yes."

"So what… you're cousins or something?" I asked in an uninterested tone, though inside I couldn't help but want to know as much as I could about Kili. He let out an amused laughed.

"Cousins! No,no. We are brothers! Is it not obvious?" he looked at me as if I were joking.

"Brothers?" I exclaimed without giving myself a moment to think. "You look nothing alike!"

"We're like twins, you can't be that surprised!"

I let out an airy laugh and shook my head.

_'Of course. This couldn't get any better,'_ I thought sarcastically to myself. Though, I slowly remembered his comment to Kili when I had first encountered them. _"Good luck, brother."_ I should've known from the start.

With a deep sigh and nothing more to say, I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes to attempt to fall asleep—in addition to wanting to avoid conversation. The quiet engulfed the air once more for quite a few minutes before I realized that it was no use trying to go to sleep. The dreams would be far more painful than listening to a dwarf.

I sat up again and leaned my back against the wall facing Fili and the stairwell entrance. He was curiously watching me as if I were about to say something exciting to him. However, unlike Kili, I didn't feel a sense of comfort having him in my presence. When the silence remained, I rested the back of my head against the wall and looked up at the ceiling, wishing that the night would be over with already.

"You're quite reserved for having left such an impression on my brother," he said as if he were speaking to himself. If he was trying to get my attention, he sure as hell got it.

"What?" He looked at me and smiled, obviously pleased that his plan had worked.

"He spoke so highly of you that I expected you to be quite the charmer to catch that attention of his." I narrowed my eyes towards him.

"What are you getting at?" I sternly asked, not enjoying where this conversation was going. He simply smirked a little more before standing up to walk towards the cell.

"You may have him fooled, but I am not so easily amused," he said staring me down. "Kili is his own man so he can make the choices as he pleases. However, he is still my brother and you are still our prisoner. I won't allow your trickery to get the best of him."

He gave a lengthy pause to allow me to respond. To his disappointment, I wouldn't be falling for his game. I let the anger boil inside of me as we stared each other down. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you... That is, until our uncle decides your ultimate fate for your crime."

"Then stop dawdling and let my punishment commence for pity's sake!" I snapped, letting the anxiety slip for a moment.

"Note taken," he replied, the same shit-eating grin plastered to his face. I balled my fists tightly together to hold in the anger that was insisting to be released. He continued to watch me until I couldn't handle it any longer.

"You've made your point, now leave me be," I said through gritted teeth. That only seemed to make his nasty grin even wider before breaking eye contact.

"Fair enough." With that, he sat back down in his seat without another word.

After several sessions of deep breathing to calm myself down after that small confrontation, I somehow managed to get myself to fall asleep. Though they weren't welcomed, I decided the taunting dreams would be more bearable than having to speak another word to that god-forsaken dwarf.

I had fallen asleep to a surprisingly comforting dream about my parents. However, it had quickly turned into a retelling of my sixteenth birthday…

_"Eleysia! Come see what you're father got for you!" my mother called from the other room. I couldn't wait to see what my father had in store for me. He always loved a good surprise. I ran into the living room to see my mother smiling brightly at me. "Well, don't you look like an adventurer!" _

_I was wearing the black, hooded cloak that she had given me earlier in the day. She had seen me admire its intricate details every time we went to the seamstress' shop and I couldn't be happier when I awoke to see it hanging on my door._

_"I love it, Momma," I said as I twirled around in it to show her. Her smile grew as she motioned me over closer to her._

_"Now, it's supposed to be a surprise, so you've got to put this on," she said, wrapping a scarf over my eyes. I could feel her gently pushing me towards the front door to see what had awaited me outside. _

_As the door opened, I could hear voices from across the yard._

_"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" I heard my father yell. My mom's grip had tightened on me as we froze in place._

_"Stay out of the way and you won't get hurt!" a man's voice yelled back at him._

_"Get out of here! She's not yours to take!" my father yelled angrily. I quickly lifted up the scarf covering my eyes to see my father struggling to pull a man off of a deep, chestnut-colored horse that I assumed had been meant for me._

_"Don't let him get away!" an older man in the distance called out. I glanced over to see him running towards our house. _

_However, in the second I looked away, my mother abruptly screamed, "Robert, no!"_

_When I looked back, the man had gotten away with the horse and began to ride off as fast as he could. My eyes quickly locked on my father as he dropped to his knees. His face was pale and pain was etched across it. My mother let go of me and quickly ran over to him as the older man joined her to tend to my father. _

_I slowly started to walk towards them until I saw my father's shirt saturated in a puddle of red. I froze once more realizing that he had been stabbed in the chest. Time seemed to stop altogether. My mother broke free of her attention towards him to turn back at me._

_"Eleysia, get inside. Now!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. I began to slowly shake my head, not believing what was actually happening. When I wasn't budging, she screamed at me once more in a bloodcurdling tone. "NOW!"_

_My eyes widened in fear and I quickly ran inside, slamming the door behind me. I stood in the middle of the room like a helpless child. I was in shock. Tears hadn't even begun to well in my eyes before I started to shake violently._

_"Eleysia,"I heard someone softly call my name. The entire house launched into a rumble until I heard the voice again._

"Eleysia!"

I awoke to a hand gently shaking my shoulder. I defensively grabbed the stranger's arm tightly and yanked until I heard a thud. I focused my eyes in the dark to see that Kili was the intruder. His arm was outstretched through the bars as his other hand supported him so that he didn't slam into the steel cell from my grip pulling him forward.

"What are you doing?" I spat venomously at him. He looked taken aback by my sudden hostility.

"What I should have done last night!" he defended innocently. My grip on him was so tight that my body began to shake—or maybe it was still the dream.

"What's your game, dwarf?" I said in vicious tone, leaning my face as close as I could without touching the bars. He looked at me in confusion.

"Game? You looked distressed, so I thought I would help you out!" he answered, eyebrows pulled together as he searched my face. My anger slowly turned into a grimace as the sincerity was solid in his demeanor. I carefully let go of his arm causing him to pull his arm out of the cell and fall back a bit.

"Sheesh, you're a grump when you're tired," he said. Though it was lighthearted and meant to be a joke, his comment triggered my anger from earlier. I couldn't even give thought to contain my sudden outburst as I reached through the bars and slapped him across the face. "Are you mad?! I thought I was doing you a favor!" he said in shock as he rubbed the place on his cheek where my hand made contact. However, he still remained in the same crouched position at eye level to me.

My emotions quickly came clashing together once I realized what I had done. At the moment, I didn't care if it was all a devious plan of the dwarves. Kili seemed true to his word and I couldn't help but immediately feel guilty for reacting in such a way.

"I'm sorry," I spoke in a barely audible whisper. I felt my eyes getting watery again and quickly shut them tight, wiping any excess tears off my face. "I'm so sorry... I didn't want to become like this," I admitted quietly.

"Become like what?" he asked softly. I glanced at him for a moment to see him giving me a fully concerned look. He had a hint of sympathy in his eyes.

"Untrustworthy… a _thief_," I spoke the latter with disdain, looking away from Kili.

"Hey, I trust you!" he said comfortingly. "I'm not supposed to… But I do."

"You shouldn't. I'm 'the enemy'."

"I don't believe for a moment that you meant yourself as a threat. I think you saw an opportunity and you took it," he said reassuringly. I hardly noticed that he had gently grabbed my hand and was holding it between his own. I could feel myself start to shake again. "You have good intentions; it was just unlucky timing."

My emotions were starting to get the best of me. I closed my eyes again and shook my head as several more tears made their way down my cheeks.

"Why are you down here?" I whispered, desperately trying to get mind to occupy with something else other than the horrific images from my dream.

Kili looked down at my hand that he was still holding and smiled sheepishly, "To see you."

I gazed over at him to see him looking back at me nervously, half-smiling. I could feel the corners of my mouth perk up a bit.

"Fili just coincidentally asked me to keep an eye on you for a moment," he continued. "He'll probably be back any minute now, though." His smile began to drop.

"Your brother is suspicious of me," I absentmindedly said. He frowned.

"He spoke to you," he said more as a statement. I carefully nodded, causing him to let out a sigh. "Fili has always had a strong influence on me. He still does..." I looked away from him. If this was his idea of making me feel better, it wasn't working. "Except when it comes to you," he continued, "And I think that worries him because this is one of the first we've disagreed on."

"Can you blame him?"

"No," he admitted, "But that doesn't mean I have to be of the same mind as him." I stared at him hopelessly before more tears started to fall down my face.

"Even so. Fili will get his justification once my punishment is served. He won't have to worry for you much longer," I said quietly in self-pity. He looked at me with a pained face.

Before we could say any more, footsteps began to echo through the stairwell as warning of Fili's return. I looked at Kili regretfully.

"You'll make it out of this, I promise," he whispered, pressing his lips to my hand before quickly standing up. He motioned for me to lie back down again in attempt to make it appear as if I had been sleeping the entire time.

"Thank you, Kili," Fili's voice sounded in the room. "Will I be seeing you in the morning?"

"Of course," Kili answered nonchalantly. I could hear him pause before his footsteps started up at the bottom of the stairwell. "Sleep well," he added in a tone that I knew was said for me.

"You as well, brother!" Fili yelled in response.

I closed my eyes, desperately clinging to Kili's comforting words as the silence quickly took hold of the night once more.


End file.
